BEYOND UTILITY

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THE SITE:39 JOHNSTON STREET, NEWBURGH NY

Former home to Newburgh photographer Jacob Ruben, author of many historic Newburgh Postcards, 39 Johnston was a vacant building for many years until the Newburgh Community Land Bank acquired the property from the City. After environmental rehabilitation and stabilization work, the building was transferred to RUPCO as part of a larger 15 property scattered site development project utilizing Historic Tax Credits to restore the buildings and provide 45 units of affordable housing. The project is currently in progress, with an estimated completion date in 2018. This is an opportunity to see the building under-construction and witness the handiwork of the craftsman helping to rebuild Newburgh.

THE ARTIST:LAURA GENES

Laura Genes was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and educated in New York City. She studied architecture at the Cooper Union. Through the use of photography and installation she describes a human element of the built environment, which is otherwise absent from technical plans and sections. By forcing the body back into structures, the permanence of both forms is put into question. The built form takes on the vulnerability of human-nature and the human body adopts the monumental qualities of a landmark. Both architecture and humans are made to perform in specific time-scales and lifespans; & in the case of both, neglecting that destiny is the only way to carry-on. Laura makes work to ask: how can structures preserve our poetry and how can we lend our poetry to structures?